The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is written by Sherman Alexie, in the book Junior is a Native American kid who lives on a reservation. He is regularly bullied and faces many hardships as he decides if his reservation or new school is a place to call home. The main theme is that If you learn to accept and fight through your struggles, they will be resolved easily. This can also be shown in the book as he struggles with his race and his family being in poverty. At the beginning of the story, Junior is perceived as more of a nerdy kid. He has thick glasses and a massive head shape. Junior also sadly only has 1 friend. The main conflict is Junior's struggle to find acceptance in two very different communities, the Spokane reservation, and Reardan High. A quote that represents this is: “I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other . . . It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job. And it didn't pay well at all.” This shows how lost he feels between his new school and his family and friends. …show more content…
But later on, as he joins the school basketball game, he is determined to get revenge on his ex-best friend by destroying him. Another bonus is showing the people at the reservation who hate him what he is made of and proving them wrong. In the end, he ends up winning the big game, in the book, this is a big deal. He and his best friend end up making up at the end and they play a game of basketball. This quote I feel best represents Junior's connection between the conflicts and basketball. ¨We had defeated the enemy! We had defeated the champions! We were David who'd thrown a stone into the brain of
Mr. p was one of the biggest inspirations to juniors actions. If it weren't for him Junior would be stuck at the rez forever and most likely become like all the other adults, drunk and angry. When junior began his journey to achieve his goals at Reardan it was very difficult. He was the only “different” kid there. Different meaning he was the only Indian in a school of white kids.
With the younger children, it is not always possible for them to study in a different education surrounding and insist on their goal. Sherman Alexie’s “The absolutely time of a part-time Indian” describes an Indian boy Arnold Junior left his homeland and pursued his goal in Reardan where has many white people. In Reardan, he learns something new and makes some new friends like Penelope and Gordy. Finally, he satisfies with the new life and even fix the friendship with Rowdy. The passage compares the description of Junior’s life both in Rez and Reardan, and those differences have great impacts on him.
When Junior goes to this school people treat him differently he acts differently he even goes by a different name. He doesn’t want to forget about his heritage and the people he left behind but he feels like this school will get him on a better path for life. He also feels a little bit guilty about leaving his friends and family from the reservation behind and moving on in life. You can see this in a quote from the book "My name is Junior," I said. "And my name is Arnold.
Junior’s father’s drinking problems and the lack of funds to afford decent living conditions on the reservation are prevalent issues throughout the book that provide an insight into this theme. This proves that the author has written this novel to exhibit the hardships of those in poverty are detrimental to a child’s future. First, the novel shows the hardships of poverty by showing the discrimination made against Junior. On page 86, Junior states he “remembered when I [he] used to be a human being,” (Alexie 86).
As the novel progresses Junior is keen on going to the school that is separated from his reservation called Reardon High. Even though Junior wants to go to this school so he can achieve a better education, much backlash came from Juniors tribe as it seemed as if he was abandoning his culture. Juniors started at Rearden very worried about what everyone would think of him, and on his first day he punched a white kid in the face for telling an insensitive joke to him. Junior went home feeling confident in what he did but later started to realize that him trying to prove himself to everyone was unnecessary.
He is a poor Indian going to a middle-class white kid school, but there is more to that. At the reservation there are these unspoken rules, if someone talks badly or insults you, you have to fight them, that is the first one on that list. Getting into fights is normal at Wellpinit but at Rearden, everyone is all talk. In the book, a kid named Roger and his friends were making fun of Junior so he punches Roger. Roger is taken aback because no one at Rearden actually gets into fistfights.
Junior loses a lot of friends and family at the young age of fourteen. He gets bullied because he was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull, but he has his best friend Rowdy there to help him. Junior realizes that he needs to leave the reservation to get a better life for himself. He goes to a new school off the
Shoot, I figure that my fellow tribal members are going to torture me” (Alexie 47). This quote shows Junior's first big decision where he begins to change his life and lead his own path by choosing to go to Reardan, he knows the consequences of the accusation of betraying the rez, however, he still chooses to go forward for himself even if it came with hardships. Alexie Hansraj 2 captured the theme here by presenting how Rez is hindering Junior, making him feel like he can't leave and search for his hope. Another way the Rez can be seen as hindering Junior is at the basketball game, in the quote “And as I ran onto the court, somebody in the crowd threw
Junior’s life as a Native American on a reservation is different from a non-native American's life
Evan Fonseca Mr. Rodriguez Academic LiteraturePeriod 7 21 April 2023 ARD-Final Essay “But somehow or another, Indians have forgotten that reservations were meant to be death camps. I wept because I was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez. I was the only one with enough arrogance,” (Sherman 218). In the fiction novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, the author wrote about the difficulties the protagonist young Indian teenager, Junior, felt as a native american who lived within a Spokane reservation in Washington state and was attending an all white school. It shows his struggles, and how he matured and developed through the losses and setbacks he faced in life.
From this point on we see the novel narrated through Junior and we see how he doesn’t have much success or really any opportunity to be successful as he is cramped in a small Native reservation. The accessibility of success as we see in the reservation is scarce for all and especially Junior, he was a shy and small kid that didn’t have much confidence or belief in himself. From their background, many people are hindered at birth because of their upbringing and what kind of upbringing. Junior is raised in a poverty-stricken household with a heavily addicted to alcohol father and both parents depressed that don’t strive to do much in their lives. This is the same for many on the reservation, it is really a trap that hinders everyone and their offspring for generations to come.
Faced with many obstacles from poverty to racial stereotypes, Junior must override them if he is to make his life better than that of fellow Indians. Interestingly, rather than letting the obstacles hold him back Junior understands that his destiny is in his own hands and he must celebrate who he is even if it means fighting. In the end, we see a boy who have managed to overcome all hardships to get to the top, even if it means making tough choices such as changing schools, therefore is could be seen that race and stereotypes only made Junior
A main reason schools read this novel is to have Native American representation in the curriculum. It is really important to include this culture in the curriculum, but the Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian is not a great choice. Even though it talks a lot about the issues facing reservations, it ignores the cultural aspect of Junior's life. A great example of Native American cultures and traditions not being elaborated on in the book is Junior talking about Rowdy punishing the brothers that jumped Junior, “Then Rowdy snuck in, shaved off their eyebrows, and cut off their braids” (Alexie, revenge is my middle name).
He realizes that his team has numerous economic and social advantages. Junior’s ability to address topics like poverty, racism and bullying with humor is a significant characteristic of his voice. For Junior, as well as his friends Rowdy and Penelope, part of growing up is recognizing that the world is more complicated than a strict division of opposites, it’s possible to be more than one thing—part of countless different “tribes”—is what enables him to unify his split identity and, as someone destined to travel beyond the reservation, navigate the world both figuratively and
And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it,” (Alexie 19). In addition, Junior remarks that it’s not just him that is poor, but his tribe in the reservation too. It shows how much poverty is affecting him and the people on the reservation. According to Sherman Alexie, he mentions in the novel, “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from.